Theatre Register

Walter Charles

Shows · Walter Charles

Actor 1945–2023 On stage 19722011

Walter Charles (born Walter Charles Jacobsen; April 4, 1945 – August 3, 2023) was an American actor and singer. Charles made his Broadway debut in Grease in 1972. Additional Broadway credits include 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Cats (1982), La Cage aux Folles (1983), Me and My Girl (1987), Aspects of Love (1990), Kiss Me, Kate (2000), The Boys from Syracuse (2002), Big River (2003), The Woman in White (2005), The Apple Tree (2006) and Anything Goes (2011). He also originated the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in 1994. He played Max von Mayerling in the Toronto production of Suns…

On stage 14 productions, 39 years

1972 Grease Eden Theatre · Original · directed by Tom Moore 3,388 perf.
1976 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Mark Hellinger · Original 7 perf.
1979 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Uris Theatre · Original · directed by Harold Prince 557 perf.
1982 Cats Winter Garden Theatre · Original · directed by Trevor Nunn 7,485 perf.
1983 La Cage aux Folles Palace Theatre · Original · directed by Arthur Laurents 1,761 perf.
1986 Me And My Girl Marquis Theatre · Original · directed by Mike Ockrent 1,412 perf.
1990 Aspects of Love Broadhurst Theatre · Original · directed by Trevor Nunn 377 perf.
1999 Kiss Me, Kate Martin Beck Theatre · Revival · directed by Michael Blakemore 881 perf.
2002 The Boys from Syracuse American Airlines Theatre · Revival · directed by Scott Ellis 73 perf.
2003 Big River Theatre not recorded · Revival 67 perf.
2005 Children and Art New Amsterdam Theatre · Original · directed by Lisa Shriver 1 perf.
2005 The Woman in White Marquis Theatre · Original · directed by Trevor Nunn 109 perf.
2006 The Apple Tree Studio 54 · Revival · directed by Mike Nichols 99 perf.
2011 Anything Goes Stephen Sondheim Theatre · Revival · directed by Kathleen Marshall 521 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Linda Mugleston 3 productions
John Dewar 3 productions
George Hearn 3 productions
William Ryall 2 productions
Ward Billeisen 2 productions
Timothy Jerome 2 productions
Robert Ousley 2 productions
Richard Todd Adams 2 productions
Patty Goble 2 productions
Nikki Renée Daniels 2 productions
Nancy Callman 2 productions
Nadine Isenegger 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 6 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on3 works

Anything Goes (2011 Revival)
Kiss Me, Kate (1999 Revival)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • George Hearn, Walter Charles, Keene Curtis, and Gary Beach all had something in common when playing Albin and his onstage alter ego Zaza in La Cage aux Folles. They were excellent in portraying a female impersonator.ebooks/Filichia, Peter/B007L4OWCU EBOK - Peter Filichia.txt
  • Cast: Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Kevin Colson, Walter Charles, Kathleen Rowe McAllen, Deanna DuClos, Danielle DuClosebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • She and I roomed together a lot on the road. We had a lot of fun. We grew up together. Michael Lembeck, Jeff Conaway, Walter Charles, Barry Bostwick: such a talented group of people. I was the Equity deputy. The first and only time I was ever a deputy. Everybody would take advantage of us a little bit because we were all young. That’s whe…ebooks/Shapiro, Eddie/Nothing Like a Dame_ Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater - Eddie Shapiro.txt
  • THE COMPANY: Duane Bodin, Walter Charles, Carole Doscher, Nancy Eaton, Mary-Pat Green, Cris Groenendaal, Skip Harris, Marthe Ihde, Betsy Joslyn, Nancy Killmer, Frank Kopyc, Spain Logue, Craig Lucas, Pamela McLernon, Duane Morris, Robert Ousley, Richard Warren Pugh, Maggie Task. Swings - Heather B. Withers, Robert Henderson.ebooks/Unknown/Four by Sondheim (Applause Musical Library) - Unknown.txt
  • THE COMPANY: Walter Charles, Roy Gioconda, Skip Harris, Michael Kalinyen, Spain Logue, Duane Morris, Patricia Parker, Meredith Rawlins, Stuart Redfield, Candace Rogers, Dee Etta Rowe, Carrie Solomon, Melanie Vaughan, Joseph Warner. Swings: Cheryl Mae Stewart, James Edward Justiss, William Kirk.ebooks/Unknown/Four by Sondheim (Applause Musical Library) - Unknown.txt
  • Margulies, Bernice Massi, Sammy Smith, Alan Manson, Addison Powell, Alexander On Richard Muenz, and Walter Charles opened March 7, 1978 __Porrest Theatre, Philadelphia closed April 15, 1978 Shubert Theatre, Boston [announced opening: May 11, 1978, Palace Theatre] Bob Preston as the prince of the Yiddish Theatre? Press’s post—Music Man (19…theatre-pdfs/More Opening Nights on Broadway - Steven Suskin.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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